


The Mountains Say

by fight_flight



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Aftermath, F/F, Photography, Road Trip, Sacrificed Arcadia Bay, San Francisco, Saved Chloe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-21
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2018-08-16 12:32:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8102518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fight_flight/pseuds/fight_flight
Summary: “I’m not blaming you, Max. This isn’t your fault.”

 
 
  “How isn’t it? I ripped that picture up… and it took me about .01 seconds to decide. It’s lucky it wasn’t the whole world verses you.”
 
  “If it was the whole world I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have chosen me.”
 
  Max doesn’t say anything because Chloe is wrong. She’d have picked her over anyone. It’s a little scary to think about, really.
 
After leaving Arcadia Bay, Chloe and Max end up on the road, ready to start their new lives. How will they deal with the aftermath of a broken Arcadia Bay and the feelings they have for each other?





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'd quickly like to warn you that this fic will have very irregular updates which I'm sorry about. You have been warned. If you're interested but not in the mood to start something that doesn't have a nearby finishing date, please go ahead and bookmark for later! Sorry for the inconvenience.

Chapter One

“Welcome to the real world…” – Max Caulfield

 

Max glances over at Chloe, trying to be sneaky and failing spectacularly.

“What is it?” Chloe asks, not even looking over.

Again Max glances at her. She takes a moment to think. “Are you really okay with what happened? Are you okay with… my choice?”

They drive in silence for what feels like hours before Chloe speaks. “I don’t know, Max… I didn’t want to die. That’s the truth, but… people still died. I was one of the lucky ones. Mom’s still alive. Even step-douche…”

Max wants to laugh at the old nickname. It seems more endearing now than before but it reminds her of better times… before they knew the truth about Rachel and Jefferson and Nathan. About everyone. She can’t laugh though. She still feels guilty.

“I’m not blaming you, Max. This isn’t your fault.”

“How isn’t it? I ripped that picture up… and it took me about .01 seconds to decide. It’s lucky it wasn’t the whole world verses you.”

“If it was the whole world I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have chosen me.”

Max doesn’t say anything because Chloe is wrong. She’d have picked her over anyone. It’s a little scary to think about, really.

They’ve been driving for a couple days now. Chloe said goodbye to Joyce and David while Sam sent off a goodbye text to her parents and Warren. She hasn’t messaged them back since.

The two of them haven’t exactly set a destination. They’ve just kept going. Max is as scared of the future as she is of the past. She hasn’t used her powers since they left Arcadia Bay.

“So we should probably think about where we’re going to go before we drive off into the ocean,” Chloe says, shaking Max out of her thoughts.

“Well, you were thinking about LA before, right?”

“Yeah… but I don’t think that’s the best place since…” Neither of them mention Rachel. “I was thinking more… San Francisco?”

Max is as surprised by Chloe as she always is. “Why?”

“It’s where all the fancy artists and entrepreneurs go right? You can get somewhere with your photos. Or find another course.”

Max smiles. “Not sure if I want to go back to school at this point. What are you going to do?”

“Be your sidekick as always. Maybe drug deal. I don’t know.”

“You’re not a sidekick, Chloe. You’re my partner in crime. Besides, I’m not using those powers anymore.”

Chloe nods like she’s expected this. “Good call.”

San Francisco… Max thinks back to the timeline where she’d one the ‘Everyday Hero’ contest. It’s an almost fond memory, her work being considered art. She wants to try again. Maybe she can find a good job for a magazine or something. Who knows?

The asphalt slips quietly by alongside her and she’d feel pretty great if there weren’t people dead because of her. But otherwise… she’s peachy.

⏩

Max kind of never wants their road trip to end. They’re saving for San Francisco so they’ve been sleeping in the car. Sometimes Max wakes up squished against a sleeping Chloe and she never wants to get to their destination. 

Time isn’t doing her favors anymore though and so they keep going and she starts almost dreading the destination. It’s a little terrifying to think about starting a new life there. She doesn’t have any definite goals and they’re not exactly rich. When she watches Chloe though… she looks so damn calm. Maybe it’s a front but either way, Max still doesn’t know what they’re going to do.

While Chloe’s filling the tank with gas, Max checks her phone. Warren’s messages are all weird references but still sound worried. She feels a little like she’s lead him on. Ever since Chloe came back in her life, Max couldn’t think of anything else. She’d been in denial about Warren’s feeling but she’d had to stop pushing away her own. Max had wondered about being more with him before all the trouble but after… she’d just seen him as a good friend.

She moves on to listening to her voicemail and here’s her mother’s frantic voice.

_“Max! Please come home. We saw what happened on the news and need to know you’re okay. Joyce called but your father and I need to see you, honey. Please just… call me.”_

_**Next message.**_

_“Jesus Christ, Max. This is getting old really fast. I’m tired and I just want to hear your voice. I’ve messaged you a hundred times. Did I do something? Please just talk to me. I miss you.”_

_**Next message.** _

_“Do you remember when we first left Arcadia Bay? You were excited but leaving home was hard and you didn’t want to talk to us for days. I knew why then but I don’t now. Tell me. That’s all I want.”_

Max doesn’t listen to the others. She doesn’t know what to do. Calling seems like a one-way street to being convinced to go home, back to her parents or Arcadia Bay. Texting doesn’t seem right either. She knows if she went to see them Chloe would come, support her and help her stay strong against the urges of her parents but… none of the options seem good. She ignores them. Maybe she can write a letter when they get to San Francisco.

Chloe gets back in the car and grins at her, throwing over a packet of peanut butter cups. “Let’s go, loser.”

⏩

They’re pulled over in some rest stop, a couple days away from San Francisco. It’s dark and Max is pretending she’s trying to sleep. She knows Chloe is doing the same.

“Hey, Max?”

“Mmm?”

“I really miss Rachel.”

Max isn’t sure what to say so she keeps quiet.

“We actually fought a lot. Our opinions never quite seemed to match up but… it was weirdly fun arguing with her. You guys would have gotten along. She loved everything arty. You probably could have lectured her about photography for ages.”

Max smiles in the dark and wonders if Chloe can see it. She had wanted to meet Rachel, felt a little jealous of her in person instead of being envious of her in death. They probably would have gotten along too even if Max wanted Chloe to idolize her the same way she did for Rachel. It was stupid to feel that way but she did. She just wishes Rachel were around to get to know herself.

“I know we haven’t really talked about her… about what happened… but I need to tell someone. I need someone to know who she was.”

“Tell me then.”

Chloe sighed and it almost sounded relieved. “Thanks, Max.

⏩

Max had nightmares.

She was good at hiding the fact. Her skills didn’t usually include lying but Max could pretend something didn’t exist pretty well.

Usually she would wake before Chloe, heart pounding and scared before realizing where she was. She was with Chloe. Not Jefferson. She was safe. There was no duct tape around her wrists, no flash of a camera, no angry commands not to move.

There was only the rise of the sun and the peaceful look on Chloe’s face as she slept away. Max breathed easy and watched how the light of the rising sun fell across Chloe’s features. She got out her camera and snapped a photo, glad the noise hadn’t woken Chloe.

This was only the beginning.

❚❚


End file.
